ADAMS  , a township in the extreme N. of

Berkshire county, N.W . Massachusetts, U.S.A., having an area of 23 sq. m . Pop . (188o) 5591; (1890) 9213; (1900) 11,134, of whom 4376 were foreign-born; (1910, census) 13,026 . It includes a poruoi. of the valley of the Hoosac river, extending to the Hoosac Range on the E., and on the W. to Mt . Williams (3040 ft.), and Greylock Mountain (3532 ft.), partly in Williamstown, and the ADAMSON 181 highest point in the state . The valley portion is level and contains several settlement centres, the largest of which, a busy industrial village (manufactures of cotton and paper), bears the same name as the township, and is on a branch of the Boston and Albany railroad . The village is the nearest station to Grey-lock, which can be easily ascended, and affords fine views of the Hoosac and Housatonic valleys, the Berkshire Hills and the Green Mountains; the mountain has been a state timber reservation since 1898 . The township's principal industry is the manufacture of cotton goods, the value of which in 1905 ($4,621,261) was 84.1% of the value of the township's total factory pro-ducts; in 1905 no other place in the United States showed so high a degree of specialization in this industry . The township (originally "East Hoosuck") was surveyed and defined in 1749 . Fort Massachusetts, at one time within its bounds, was destroyed in 1746 by the French . An old Indian trail between the Hudson and Connecticut valley ran through the township, and was once a leading outlet of the Berkshire country .

Adams was incorporated in 1778, and was named in

honour of Samuel Adams, the revolutionary leader . Part of Adams was included in the new township of Cheshire in 1793, and North Adams was set off as a separate township in 1878 . ADAM'S APPLE, the movable projection, more prominent in males than females, formed in the front part of the throat by the thyroid cartilage of the larynx . The name was given from a legend that a piece of the forbidden fruit lodged in Adam's throat . The "Adam's apple" is one of the particular points of attack in the Japanese system of self-defence known as jiu-jitsu . ADAM'S BRIDGE, or RAMA'S BRIDGE, a chain of sandbanks extending from the island of Manaar, near the N.W. coast of Ceylon to the island of Rameswaram, off the Indian coast, and lying between the Gulf of Manaar on the S.W. and Palk Strait on the N.E . It is more than 30 M. long and offers a serious impediment to navigation . Some of the sandbanks are dry; and no part of the shoal has a greater depth than 3 or 4 ft. at high water, except three tortuous and intricate channels which have recently been dredged to a sufficient depth to admit the passage of vessels, so as to obviate the long journey round the island of Ceylon which was previously necessary . Geological evidence shows that this gap was once bridged by a continuous isthmus which according to the temple records was breached by a violent storm in 1480 . Operations for removing the obstacles in the channel and for deepening and widening it were begun as long ago as 1838 . A service of the British India Steam Navigation Company's steamers has been established between Negapatam and Colombo through Palk Strait and this narrow passage .